Step
by PoisionedNightshade
Summary: One single step caused Izuku Midoriya agonizing pain, a few sleepless nights resulted in sleep deprivation irritation, throw this into the mixture of worried friends and you may get one withholding and a quite vexed Izuku. (One shot!)


**Summary: One single step caused Izuku Midoriya agonizing pain, a few sleepless nights resulted in sleep deprivation irritation, throw this into the mixture of worried friends and you may get one withholding and a quite vexed Izuku.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia ;(**

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Izuku tried to remain vigilant as he made his way down for breakfast. The green haired boy stumbled with a dazed expression, eyes looking simply soulless as he sauntered forward. Izuku was paler than the moon, a somewhat sickly color painting his skin. His checks were kissed with a slightly pink flush, spreading to his forehead as well. Underneath his eyes and against his pale skin, were dark rings. They hung under his eyes like curtains, pulling his eyelids so they could close. The color contrasted with his skin, making it more vibrant and more noticeable. Anyone could have guessed it; Izuku Midoriya did not sleep well last night. Now _that_ , was an understatement.

Izuku had not slept well in the last couple of days. He was constantly up late at night, his fellow classmates seemed to think he could run on raw energy alone. During the nights, he had stayed up to assist some of his friends, separately, with small tasks. Being the selfless and kind natured person he was, he indulged them, despite loosing sleep over it. He didn't think much of it, not until it became a reoccurring thing. Every night. Something that bothered Izuku, was that they still got good nights of rest. Turns out, the ones up at those hours had the ability to go to bed early, wake back up, nag Izuku, and then go back to bed until the morning. Izuku did not have the ability to go back to bed. Every time he would begin to settle, or even think about it for that matter, a knock came at his door. The nights he _finall_ y got into his bed, he just laid awake for hours, until finally his eyelids closed. Not for long though, fifteen minutes was generally when his alarm sounded to begin his morning workout. This was the routine Izuku found himself in every night.

He was exhausted. He felt like a dead fish. His entire body ached from his head to his toes. He considered skipping classes completely to gratify his dropping eyelids; but he didn't. Izuku couldn't be known for skipping class to sleep, so he continued on. Sloppily, he walked, eyes half closed, hair a mess and body shaking. Down he went, to get breakfast. On one of his steps, though, Izuku managed to step a little wrong, resulting in his foot turning to an awkward angle and Izuku falling over it. As Izuku fell and hit the the floor, he heard a resounding _crack_. Izuku was shocked for a mere second, before pain shot in his leg, running up and down freely like a volt of electricity. Izuku's mouth fell open in a silent scream, a gasp of pain wrenching it's way out through the Izuku's choked and silent sobs. He slowly picked himself up, and examined his foot after taking his shoe off. Just a little red, not a big deal. So why did it hurt so much?

Izuku was too tired to think rationally, so instead of going to Recovery Girl or one of his classmates to get his foot checked, because there was a very high probability he had fractured some bone in his foot or ankle, he wrapped it up tightly and put back on his shoes. True, every step was pure agony, but it was slightly drowned out by the buzz of exhaustion that coursed through Izuku's body. He ate a rushed breakfast, downed a few painkillers and hurried to class, behind the rest of his friends by a couple of feet. No one seemed to notice Izuku's funk, which was good for him. He didn't want to deal with the explanations, or the worry. It would only irritate him at this point — he was currently so done with his classmates. He hesitated before entering his class room. This was the first class of the day and he already felt completely drained. He huffed and entered slowly. Approaching his desk, he felt the eyes of some of his classmates bore into his back.

From everyone else's perspectives, Izuku had some kind of atmosphere surrounding him. His shoulders were slumped as he _limped_ to his designated desk. Izuku looked like a mixture of tired and completely pissed off. To some of them, it looked like his energy bar had been completely emptied, so he was just left running on the small amount of caffeine and food from this morning. None of them realized how little sleep he had gotten over the past week. Bakugou noticed, though. He had seen this before, and promptly scooted closer to his desk so that he could be farther from Izuku's, and clamped his mouth shut. Even he didn't want to deal with the wrath of Izuku when he was tired. Uraraka glanced at her friend, the boy looked a mess. She scowled, trying her hardest to figure out a way to approach the situation. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Aizawa's abrupt entry.

"Good morning class," said Aizawa unenthusiastically.

Of course the man immediately noticed Izuku. Slumped over in his desk, tiredly watching Aizawa while trying to escape. He was obviously exhausted, but what Aizawa noticed more than anything else, Izuku was glaring. He looked irked and angry. Aizawa could relate, he always felt irked and angry. So Izuku got no sleep last night, that was regular for Aizawa. He could sympathize, not that he would. Izuku also looked to be in pain, sitting slightly defensively, a mild wince lingering on his face. The other students looked just fine, so what had happened to keep Izuku from sleeping last night? Or perhaps _nights_. Aizawa recognized the completely bone dead state Izuku was in. That much exhausted couldn't have been caused by just one night, unless Izuku was continuously and physically battling someone — which was a possibility as well. Aizawa also observed some of his classmates, as they cast worried glances Izuku's way. Namely, Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. Bakugou seemed to have noticed as well, stiffening so that he wouldn't set off Izuku. The others in the class were completely oblivious to the situation.

Izuku also seemed to have caught on to the way people were looking at him, and it only caused him to get more ticked off. Aizawa could see it in his face, so he decided to begin the lesson before Izuku snapped. When lunch came around, class 1-A was excited. All of them complained about being hungry and tired — Izuku remained quiet, tying to keep his distance from his classmates, but their words were almost hilarious to him. The cafeteria was bustling. So many voices talking and yelling, it only increased Izuku's stress level. A headache was starting to become apparent, and Izuku could see a headache aura beginning to take shape. It burned his vision, floating around and flashing like a neon light, tormenting Izuku. It only grew worse at the loud chatter of his classmates. And through the blurred and temporary blinding aura, he saw his food. It looked revolting to him.

Just the sight churned Izuku's stomach. He closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing. He was so tired, and his headache was so bad. He knew about headaches, especially with aura. There was a chance he was getting a sensory overload, which wouldn't be completely crazy, especially since he was so tired he could hardly think practically. He felt a nudge and a poke on his arm. Izuku cracked one of his eyes open, finding Kaminari looking at him expectantly.

"Hey, are you gonna eat that?"

Izuku, too tired to reply, huffed in annoyance and slid his plate over the blond boy. Kaminari laughed excitedly and began eating Izuku's food. Izuku learned against the table, trying to ignore the throbbing in his foot and head, and the dizziness and nausea settling in. He rubbed his temples, feeling absolutely sick.

"Midoriya."

Izuku swallowed hard, opening his eyes again and searching for the owner of the voice that had called his name. The aura was slowly beginning to dissipate, but the headache and nausea did not. Todoroki was watching him worriedly from across the table.

"Are you feeling okay? You don't look well—"

"I'm _fine_." Izuku snapped, a little too quickly.

Todoroki frowned, "No. You're not."

Izuku narrowed his eyes, and puffed out a breath of irritation. "Leave me alone. _Please_."

But no. Todoroki wasn't having this, and neither was Uraraka or Iida, who both were sitting near the duo.

"Deku—"

"Midoriya, as class rep, it is my duty—"

There were so many voices filtering into Izuku's head at once, he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. Why would they care? What would they do if they realized it was them who caused all of this? All of them, no one excluded except for Bakugou, had kept him up. Izuku muttered a curse.

"I said, I. Am. _Fine!_ " Izuku all but yelled, standing from his seat and glowering at each of the people seated at the table. "I would be better if you stopped asking!"

They were all taken back by this. Izuku had basically snarled out the words. He turned and limped away, shaking his head as he went. He knew he had shocked them. If he hadn't been so darn tired, Izuku would be a little guilty at snapping at his friends like that. But currently, Izuku was having trouble giving them any sympathy. It had become the same thing every night. A small group asked Izuku to study with them, so he did. That only took about two hours of Izuku's time away. Not so bad. It started becoming a little longer. Mineta managed to need Izuku's help with something different every night — generally something ridiculous and nonsensical. Yet he knew that Izuku was the only one who would be kind enough to help. Izuku was also used by Kaminari, late at night he asked Izuku to fix some of their appliances, as a few of the classmates had somehow _broken_ some of hem, and Izuku was the only one handy to assist.

Little things like that. All of them had used Izuku those nights, even for small things — but they kept him up nonetheless. He was surprised at Uraraka, because she had needed Izuku for something. 'Practice test', is what she had called it. Her and Iida wanted to test their new move — late at night because they couldn't have waited until morning. And now his day got worse and worse. Every step made him want to cry out in pain, and his sight was a little bleary. There was a deep pit in Izuku's stomach, it hurt. Per usual for the days at lunch, Izuku's headache was still rampaging through him, it felt like a ton was leaning off him, dragging him down as he left the noisy cafeteria. Izuku couldn't remember the last time he ate, but even if he tried he doubted it would stay down currently. His nausea was so bad he could hardly walk straight.

"Midoriya."

Again with his name being called? Why couldn't people just _leave him alone_? Izuku glanced to his right, where the source of the voice came from. There was his teacher, Aizawa, standing there with his hands in his pockets, a regular unamused expression on his face.

"Mr. Aizawa—"

"Are you not finishing your lunch?"

"Uh—well...no..." Izuku stammered. "...I'm not all that hungry."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, "Do you need to visit Recovery Girl?"

There it was. Aizawa was worried, Izuku could see it in his eyes. Was Izuku not good at hiding things? All the worry meant coddling, and it was true that Aizawa had done nothing to keep him awake at night, besides assigning homework. But still, Izuku just wanted to be left alone.

" _No_." Izuku murmured, annoyance tied to his tone.

"Fine, do what you want." Aizawa said. "Just keep on trying to train with that limp of yours."

Izuku guessed it was kind of hard to hide — still irritating someone pointed it out. It was obvious to Izuku that Aizawa did care, but he wasn't going to constantly bother him like the others. Because if Aizawa was anyone, he was someone who liked to teach people lessons, and if Izuku wasn't going to listen to reason, he would let him fail. Aizawa sighed and walked away, leaving Izuku standing alone. The day continued on, Izuku managed to evade his friends and classmates as long as he could until it was time for Heroics class. Izuku was bone dead as he walked into his mentor's classroom. Not only was he completely done for the day, he dreaded this class most of all. The difference between Aizawa and Toshinori, was that Toshinori would not just let it go. The moment that All Might saw Izuku enter the class room, his dark eyes flashed with worry. Izuku scowled and looked away from his mentor's gaze, trying harder than anything not to notice Toshinori's gaze on him.

Izuku glanced up briefly, finding Toshinori's eyes still on him. Izuku met the gaze and narrowed his eyes, trying to somehow avoid Toshinori saying anything to him about the matter. Toshinori seemed to notice what Izuku was going for, and began the class with a sigh. If Izuku was thinking sensibly, he would have kicked himself for being so disrespectful towards _All Might._ Throughout the lesson, Izuku's vision became bleary, his head pounded harshly, as if Bakugou were storming around shouting in his head. It didn't help that in a moment of silence, Izuku's stomach let out a loud growl. Eyes turned to him, no one said or did anything, but Izuku knew the attention was on him. It had been all day, it was aggravating. But Izuku still didn't feel hungry, no matter what his stomach said. He could definitely feel it was upset.

Class ended too soon for Izuku's liking. The day was close to being done, and Izuku was glad to get back and get some rest, but it also meant interaction was inevitable with Toshinori. As the students were getting up to leave, Izuku heard something muttered by the grape boy.

"Why is Midoriya acting like such a jerk?"

It was said a little too loudly. Mineta noticed his mistake, and quickly glanced over to see Izuku _glowering_ at him.

"Excuse me?" Izuku questioned.

Toshinori could see the situation was about to explode. Izuku stood slumped slightly, dishelved and obviously upset. Toshinori could tell from the way he held himself that he had done something to injure himself, and he had not been sleeping well. Toshinori felt bad. He hadn't interacted with the boy much lately. He hadn't checked up to see if everything was alright, and it was obvious now that nothing was alright.

"Young Midoriya," said Toshinori.

Izuku jerked around to face Toshinori. Izuku looked so tired. Toshinori's facial expression morphed into sympathy and pity, the previous number one opened his mouth to say something, searching desperately for the words to say. That obviously set Izuku off and he furrowed his brows before huffing and exiting the room as fast as he could. Toshinori overheard the students as the exited his classroom.

"Does anyone know what happened?" Kaminari asked. "I've never seen him like this before..."

"Yeah..." murmured Ashido. "...he's usually such a...cinnamon roll."

"A cinnamon roll?" Jiro questioned.

"Yeah!" Ashido grinned, "He's so sweet and cute, right Uraraka?"

Uraraka's face flushed a pink color before shrugging, "Uh, I guess. But...seriously guys, did we do something?"

"Tch." Bakugou rolled his eyes and shoved past his classmates. "You all are idiots."

"What is that supposed to mean, Bakugou!?" Iida exclaimed.

"It means what I said!" Bakugou snapped back. "He's tired, just leave the nerd alone."

Bakugou was given confused expressions as he strode at a quicker pace past them.

"Wow, okay." Kirishima said. "But he kinda looks sick though, doesn't he?"

Sick? Toshinori scowled. He doubted that. Izuku looked like he was taking on a lot of stress. That much was apparent. Izuku looked overworked, and he wondered how much Izuku had been eating lately. There wasn't a usual glow in Izuku's skin, instead it looked somewhat ashen. There was a sheen of sweat on Izuku's forehead, and he looked like he was having an internal battle to keep his eyes open. Toshinori just wondered what he could do, and what caused Izuku to be so worn out?

The regular UA school day finally ended, though it was much longer for Izuku than regular days. He trudged out of UA, ahead of most the other students, and limped towards the dorms. His vision tunneled in and out. He was so tired, he didn't know if he could even argue at the moment. Class 1-A caught up with him, obviously ignoring Bakugou's warning.

"Deku, do you need any help walking?" Uraraka offered her arm.

Izuku shook his head 'no'.

"I can totally give you a piggy back ride though, dude." Kirishima smiled, pointing to his back.

Izuku shook his head again - his foot hurt so bad.

"Midoriya, did we do something?"

"Yeah, are you alright?"

They were all crowding around Izuku at this point. Izuku halted walking and tried to process all the voices at once. They were all talking over each other. Did none of them realize that it was giving Izuku a major headache?

"Oi! Shut up!" An angry voice yelled. "You idiots don't know how to be freaking quiet!"

There was a chorus of complaints towards the voice that belonged to Bakugou. Izuku cracked his eyes open, watching as the blond approached Izuku.

"Worthless piece of crap, why didn't you just say freaking no? Tch, idiot."

Though it was meaningless to the other students, Izuku knew exactly what he was referring too. Izuku took a step forward, and suddenly his body and injured foot couldn't take his weight anymore. Izuku's knee's buckled and he found himself falling forward. His name was called through the ringing in Izuku's ears and the murkiness his head was surrounded in. To Izuku's surprise, he didn't hit the ground like he had anticipated. Instead, his body was supported by a warm one. It wasn't uncomfortably warm, but it was almost cozy. Bakugou gripped Izuku's forearms, refusing to let him hit the ground. Izuku's head rested on Bakugou's shoulder, his body felt ten times more tired and worn. And the warm heat emitted from Bakuguo's body was not helping him stay awake. So Izuku let sleep's jaws clamp over him, and he closed his eyes, drowning out the noise of the world and accepting the sleep that had been declined to him over the past week.

The sight of Bakugou holding Izuku up, while the green haired boy slept, would have been almost comical in any other situation. Some of the others had noticed how much more considerably quiet Bakugou had been today. And his voice seemed to have some kind of gentleness and familiarity in it. It was like he recognized the situation. They were all further surprised when Bakugou roughly slung Izuku onto his back by himself, and stood up straight. He shot a glare at each and every one of them, rolling his eyes at their flummoxed expressions.

"If all of you weren't so freaking helpless and selfish, the idiot would be running around like his regular annoying self." Bakugou sneered, "Figure out your problems by yourself instead of relying on stupid Deku's help."

With those words, Bakugou started back towards UA. Class 1-A was left puzzled.

"...what...does he mean?" Oijiro asked.

"Well..." Uraraka scowled. "I mean, me and Iida asked Deku to help me a few times later at night-"

"Oh..me too." Kaminari said.

There it was. This was one of the busy times at UA, everyone was scrambling to do something as tests were coming up. People needed help studying, so they asked Izuku. They needed help fixing something, so they asked Izuku. They needed observational skills, so they asked Izuku. None of them seemed to realize how little sleep Izuku got. Meanwhile, Bakugou was muttering insults at the sleeping Izuku as he carried him to Recovery Girl. He felt Izuku stir on his back and groan tiredly.

"...K...Kacchan..?" He slurred. "...why-"

"It would be a disgrace to All Might's legacy." Bakugou interrupted. "Can't have the one he entrusted his power with to die of tiredness...even if that person _is_ a stupid moron who can't say no. Besides, you said you wanna beat me, which'll never happen so long as you're like this."

Izuku realized that Bakugou had been the only one who didn't keep Izuku awake. Surprisingly enough, Bakugou had been generally quiet throughout the week. He hadn't really spoken to Izuku that much, and today he had remained silent and avoided Izuku until now.

"Even that half and half idiot didn't see that he was being an idiot."

Quite intellectual.

Bakugou found Recovery Girl in the infirmary and discarded Izuku on the bed. He turned to leave when Recovery Girl halted him.

"I notified All Might that you brought him here, he wants a word with you."

Bakugou grunted and sat down in one of the nearby chairs and watched Recovery Girl work. Turns out, Izuku had injured himself pretty severely with his foot. When Recovery Girl removed the shoe, she found a very bruised and swollen foot. Black, blue, green and purple were mixed together to create a nasty looking contusion. _Idiot_. Bakugou thought. Toshinori came soon after.

"Good of you to finally join us." Recovery Girl murmured sarcastically.

"What's happened?"

"He is majorly sleep deprived," started Recovery Girl. "he's been under eating and he's quite dehydrated. There's a lot of stress on his body. He has a small fracture on one of his metatarsal bones, and a high ankle sprain."

Toshinori sighed and rubbed his temples, "...young Midoriya..."

"That would explain his mood today." Recovery Girl said. "Unfortunately, there's not a lot I can do except force him to bed rest, and assign him a meal plan. His foot will be a difficult matter until he get's rest. He can not keep up the stamina at this current point in time."

"Thank you." Toshinori turned to Bakugou. "Young Bakugou, I appreciate you taking Midoriya to Recovery Girl. It was apparent he would refuse to go."

"Tch, whatever." Bakugou murmured.

Toshinori smiled fondly. Bakugou and Izuku. Both of these boys meant a lot to Toshinori. Both had such great talent, and he cared for both of them greatly. Toshinori approached the blond and placed a hand on his head, and gave his hair a quick ruffle.

"I'm proud of you for handling this situation well." Toshinori smiled. "It seems you have quite a lot of experience when it comes to Midoriya. I'm glad that you were the one to bring him."

Bakugou smiled just barely. He nodded wordlessly at his hero, All Might. He didn't need to say anything. Toshinori strode to Izuku, and placed a hand on the boy's head.

"What am I going to do with you?" He chuckled lovingly. "Such a problem child."

Subconsciously and in his sleep, Izuku nuzzled into Toshinori's hand, finding comfort in the touch. Toshinori regarded Izuku as a son he had never had. He was the closest thing to it. Toshinori loved him as a father would love his son. He was proud of Izuku in how far he had come, but he was also greatly worried for the boy. His selflessness was courageous and rigorous, but it also caused Izuku to burden himself until he could hardly stand. Toshinori ran a hand through Izuku's hair and then turned back to Bakugou. He took the boy and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Now, it's high time that you get some rest too."

Bakugou was slightly shocked. How did he know? There was no sign of obvious tiredness on Bakugou. But somehow Toshinori could tell by the slightly slumped shoulders and the tired responses. Bakugou had been awake those nights too, obviously not doing as much, but just observing Izuku in trying to find a way to keep the boy from overexerting himself more. Bakugou found Izuku annoying, he did. But Izuku was also his friend, though he wouldn't admit it outloud. And though he was disappointed when he had found out that Izuku had inherited All Might's power, he had come to realize that he could also assist the great All Might and his successor by keeping him safe and helping him train. He had a long way to go. Bakugou didn't even like himself for thinking this, but Izuku was one of his closest friends, as the green haired boy had known him for almost their entire lives, through the good and bad. And Bakugou did regret how he behaved, because though the rest of the class saw him as aggressive and incredibly rude, which he still was, he had changed quiet a lot, especially after his fight with Izuku. Toshinori could see that it was almost like the start of a new relationship with Bakugou and Izuku. Mutual respect and rivalry. But, they both still cared for each other greatly.

The next couple of days Izuku spent in the infirmary. Once he regained a little bit of rest, he was sent back to his dorm to unwind for another day or two before returning to classes. The rest of the students in his class apologized vigorously for their being the cause in Izuku's exhaustion. And Izuku, no longer as POed as he had been, forgave them immediately, and apologized for his behavior as well. Uraraka and Todoroki, as well as most the other students, and made it their mission to help Izuku best they could while he was recovering his fractured foot and overcome the tiredness. They brought him notes from each of the classes and helped him study best they could if Izuku didn't understand something he missed in class. Izuku was so greatful for his friends.

On the last day of Izuku's bedrest, and Izuku was very bored by now, especially sense the rest of his class were at school, he heard a knock at his door. "Um, come in!"

He was surprised when Toshinori appeared in the doorway. He made a startled sound in his throat and struggled to sit up in bed, accidentally irritating his casted foot. Izuku winced deeply and found Toshinori sitting on his bed. Izuku was oh so embarrassed that All Might was in his room, seeing _all_ of the All Might merchandise, which trumped his old room. But Toshinori just smiled at the boy's fondness of him.

"Careful, Young Midoriya."

"S-Sorry..." Izuku stammered. "...so...what are you doing here?"

"I came to see how you were doing." Toshinori explained. "You are looking significantly better, my boy."

"Thanks." Izuku smiled softly, rubbing the back of his head. "Hey...I'm really sorry for how I acted-"

"All is forgiven. I can understand and relate."

"Really?"

"Yes indeed." Toshinori laughed quietly. "So many times in the past that I've been in your situation. Slightly different, mind you, but still similar. Be assertive, Midoriya. Don't worry about offending anyone, and just say what's on your mind. I promise you that your friends will understand."

Izuku nodded.

"I would also thank young Bakugou if I were you."

"Kacchan?"

"Yes. He was the one that handled the situation with maturity."

"Oh..." Izuku vaguely remembered Bakugou bringing him to Recovery Girl. "...right, I guess I do owe him one now."

Toshinori and Izuku chatted for a few more minutes before Toshinori had to go. As the older man left, Izuku cleared his throat. "Um...All Might?"

"Yes?"

"I won't forget what you said. And I'll work past this so that I can be a great hero that makes people feel safe when they see me!"

Toshinori smiled. "I'm glad. I'll see you in class soon, get better."

The man exited the room and sighed, his smile still lingering. "I'm glad, my boy."

There was no doubt in his mind, Izuku Midoriya would become a top hero, and confidently safe others with a smile, in his own way. Toshinori was so proud of him.


End file.
